Jake Paul defeated Mike Tyson on Friday night in an event filled with unique storylines. While the undercard fights featured plenty of drama of their own, everyone was tuning in for the main event, Tyson vs. Paul.
Of course, this fight was originally supposed to take place in July, before the 58-year-old Tyson experienced an ulcer flare-up. Yet, instead of calling off the fight altogether, the two agreed to delay the bout for another five months, which only heightened the anticipation.
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65 million people watched Jake Paul beat Mike Tyson
While watching Jake Paul defeat Mike Tyson by decision after the two went toe-to-toe for eight rounds, many couldn’t help but wonder if they were the only ones experiencing streaming issues. Yet, many streamers reported issues with Netflix’s constant buffering, or complete inability to load the fight.
Naturally, this led to questions like, how many people are watching the Paul-Tyson fight? We didn’t know it at the time, but it turns out, the fight had an incredible turnout, even after all the streaming issues prevented many viewers from witnessing each round.
On Saturday, Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports revealed that 60 million households watched Paul defeat Tyson. Viewership reportedly peaked with 65 million “concurrent streams.”
NEWS: Netflix says 60 million households worldwide tuned in for its Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul boxing event Friday night.
— Michael McCarthy (@MMcCarthyREV) November 16, 2024
The giant streamer’s audience peaked at 65 million concurrent streams.
No wonder they were having so many connection issues. Ultimately, while the actual fight featured some intriguing moments, most viewers were left feeling disappointed with the former heavyweight champion’s lack of intensity. Others came away feeling like Paul earned more respect, not just for taking on one of the greatest boxers of all time but for showing the level of respect that he did to an all-time legend.
Meanwhile, even Netflix couldn’t help but poke fun at itself for its struggles to keep up with the incredible viewership numbers it maintained.
60 million households around the world tuned in live to watch Paul vs. Tyson!
— Netflix (@netflix) November 16, 2024
The boxing mega-event dominated social media, shattered records, and even had our buffering systems on the ropes. pic.twitter.com/kA8LjfAJSk
Related: Mike Tyson reveals he nearly died in June